How can you choose the right KPIs for esports genres?

1 Define your objectives

Before you can choose your KPIs, you need to define your objectives. What are you trying to achieve in your esports genre? What are the main skills and strategies that you need to master? How do you measure success and improvement? Your objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, if you play a FPS game, your objectives could be to increase your accuracy, kill/death ratio, or map control. If you play a MOBA game, your objectives could be to improve your farm, gank, or teamfight coordination. If you play a card game, your objectives could be to optimize your deck, card draw, or mana curve.

2 Choose relevant and reliable KPIs

Once you have your objectives, you need to choose the KPIs that will help you track and evaluate them. Your KPIs should be relevant and reliable, meaning that they should reflect your objectives and be consistent and accurate. You should also avoid choosing too many or too few KPIs, as this can make your analysis confusing or incomplete. Ideally, you should have 3-5 KPIs per objective, depending on the complexity and scope of your esports genre. For example, if your objective is to increase your accuracy in a FPS game, your KPIs could be your hit rate, headshot rate, or damage per shot. If your objective is to improve your farm in a MOBA game, your KPIs could be your last hits, denies, or gold per minute. If your objective is to optimize your deck in a card game, your KPIs could be your win rate, card advantage, or synergy score.

3 Collect and analyze data

After you have chosen your KPIs, you need to collect and analyze data from your esports genre. You can use various tools and platforms to gather and visualize your data, such as game-specific analytics software, third-party websites, or spreadsheets. You should collect data from multiple sources and time periods, such as your own matches, your competitors' matches, or professional tournaments. You should also analyze your data using descriptive and inferential statistics, such as averages, trends, correlations, or hypothesis testing. For example, if you want to measure your hit rate in a FPS game, you can use a software that records and displays your shots and hits in each match. You can then calculate your average hit rate over a week or a month, and compare it to your previous performance or your peers' performance. You can also test if your hit rate is influenced by factors such as your weapon, your position, or your opponent.

4 Adjust and optimize your performance

Finally, you need to use your data and KPIs to adjust and optimize your performance in your esports genre. You should review your results and identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as the areas where you can improve or innovate. You should also set new goals and action plans based on your findings, and monitor your progress and feedback. You should also be flexible and adaptable, and revise your KPIs and objectives if necessary. For example, if you find out that your farm in a MOBA game is lower than your target, you can try to improve your last hitting skills, change your item build, or rotate more often. You can then measure your new farm KPIs and see if they have improved or not. You can also experiment with different heroes, roles, or strategies, and see how they affect your farm KPIs.

By following these tips and examples, you can choose the right KPIs for your esports genre, and use them to enhance your performance and progress. Remember that KPIs are not the only factor that determines your success in esports, but they are a useful and powerful tool that can help you achieve your objectives and stand out from the crowd.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?